(BRANCHBURG, NJ) -- Loretta Fois of Branchburg, Raritan Valley Community College Associate Professor of Dance, has received a 2017 Individual Artist Fellowship Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Fois has been honored in the Choreography category and she will use the $8,600 award toward professional development and the creation of new works.
Fois is Director of the Dance program at RVCC, Vice President of Education for Dance NJ, Founding Director of New Jersey Dance Studio, and Artistic Director of Puppe’n’Dance. For 10 years she served as an artist in residence for New Jersey Department of Education and has served as an Artist in Residence for the Paper Mill Playhouse Outreach program. Fois also received a 2011 Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and has been the recipient of a number of grants, including New Jersey State Council on the Arts Artist-in Education, the New York Foundation for the Arts and The Puffin Foundation. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre/Chemistry from The College of the Holy Cross.
Fois has worked professionally with Claire Porter, Verlezza Dance, Dancing in the Streets, and Andrew Jannetti & Dancers, and has performed with various artists including Ellen Cornfield, Pat Graney, Ralph Lemon, Creach/Koester and Stephen Koplowitz. Her work recently has been performed in New York at Joe’s Pub, DUMBO, Ailey Citigroup Theatre and Greenspace, and in New Jersey at the YourMove Festival and RVCC’s Nash Theatre. She has been a faculty member at Mason Gross School of the Arts, City University of New York, Ohio State University, Union County College, Middlesex County’s School of Performing Arts, and New Jersey School of Ballet. Fois has taught at various American College Dance Conferences and spent her sabbatical years (2011-2013) in Rome, Italy studying Dalcroze Eurhythmics. In 2016 she served on the Writing Team for the revision of the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards in Dance, and is currently on the Advisory Board of Freespace Dance.
The Artist Fellowships are competitive awards given to New Jersey artists in 12 different disciplines that rotate each year. The awards are granted based on an anonymous panel review process focused exclusively on artistic quality. The program is carried out in partnership with the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. This year's winners are artists working in the categories of Choreography, Music Composition, Poetry and Sculpture.
RVCC offers an Associate of Fine Arts in Dance. For additional information about the Dance program at RVCC, contact Fois at 908-526-1200, ext. 8494 or loretta.fois@raritanval.edu.
Raritan Valley Community College’s main campus is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ. Serving Somerset and Hunterdon County residents for close to 50 years, RVCC is an educational and cultural center that is nationally recognized for its innovative programming, service to the community and environmental leadership. The College offers more than 90 associate degrees and certificates, as well as career training, professional development and personal enrichment courses. The College also has a performing arts center and planetarium. RVCC is committed to offering a quality and affordable education through effective teaching, liaisons with the community’s businesses, and state-of-the-art technology. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.
